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Write on!

The TOI is a shill for vested interests - and has always been. Their English usage has also deteriorated of late. I used to write for them awhile back.

I was thinking of writing an editorial about what the TIO did in next week’s issue of the school paper. Surprised more of my friends havent been talking about it. Just thought I’de mention that…

Money speaks. Lack of money speaks even louder. Any way of organizing a boycott, either of the paper itself or of its advertisers?

I had visited your site once before, again thanks to Instapundit. You urge folks to take on the Times of India. But what exactly do you have in mind? So you want bloggers to boycott visiting the Times website? Stop getting the paper. Empty threats like these are what makes bloggers appear silly. If you have a plan, spell it out. Don’t be a whiny shill. The blogosphere deserves better!

If you are surprised that money and money alone talks, ask Karl Rove and Mr. Bush. On the other hand, the power of bloggers are over rated. For instance, bloggers on the Right and Left uniformly opposed the Bankruptcy Bill that just passed the Senate. Neither Glenn or Kos or Atrios and their shrill pronouncements made a bit of difference to the goons in the Senate.

So you expect the TOI to be any different? Get real! Get a life!

Shanti, i tend to partially agree with “Friggin Normal”. What do us “online geeks in faraway lands” do? For an average TOI still gives unmatched deal, colorful gossip stories for just 1 buck.

maybe manypeople can pool in their efforts to do a media watch site?? btw, there are othersites like spindianexpress.blogspot.com poodlesofindia.blogspot.com. I wonder why they did not strike a nerve yet?

Frigging normal and L, we bloggers outside India already don’t buy TOI. What I want to do is do exactly what Mediaah was doing, but from outside of India and on a bigger scale. What is TOI going to do? They have got to understand that bullying doesn’t work.

Point # 1- I am not normally laid back :tongue3:

Point # 2 - Why only bloggers in the US? Your call ought to be for all of us. Freedom of Expression applies to al kinds of forums, and especially blogs.

This issue ought to be on real newspapers like Hindu and others.

Err.. Shanti, Haven’t u been to my blog? TOI bashing is my favorite hobby. :smartass: To summarize what TOI is all about, search for an article titled “explosives in musharaf’s grandson’s diapers” to see how pathetic TOI really is! :nice:

Ravages, I called on bloggers outside India since I wasn’t sure if those in India would want to get entangled in the legalities with TOI. I thought we would be kinda hard to reach for them.

Sriram, see my update :)

Figgin Normal: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. If you read the comments sections for a lot of the bankruptcy posts, you’ll see that the readers were underwhelmed. It may have caught the imagination of some bloggers, but it didn’t seem to catch a hold of their audiences much.

Anyhoo, if I lived in India I’d be pissed that a blogger was being harassed in this way, but since I don’t, I guess I just shouldn’t care about this issue at all…..

I’m a lil humbled. I do TOI bashing for a hobby. I’ve been doing it for quite a while :evil: anyways, read the comment on the terry schiavo post as well and lemme know if i’m wrong somewhere.

Shanti,

Like I said, there exists many blogs which take on TOI on a daily basis. But the difference with mediaah is that it is written by an insider - an experienced journalist. His emphasis for not on criticizing/fisking TOI articles but to give an industry perspective (like medianet, TOI business acquisitions,etc. ). Plus his readers not only consisted of amateurs but also journalists.

…. contd. So what would be interesting is to host mediaah (or something similar) from a place where TOI can’t touch and redirect the existing readers to this site. I think that would make TOI squirm.

I agree with L. One of the main reason Mediaah was targetted was because Mr Pradyuman Maheshwari is a well known figure in the journalistic fraternity. Coupled with the fact that loads of journalists and other people who mattered read the blog regularly. His credibility wasn’t questioned considering his experience in the field. There also exists lot of blogs which keep criticising TOI. However Mr.Maheshwari enjoyed a readership and credibility which no one else does which is why he became an easy target. I am wondering if Mr Maheshwari could start blogging again if mediaah were to be hosted somewhere outside India. But then don’t you think then TOI will find ways to target him personally? I ddon’t really know. Are there any chances as such?

Shobha, if Pradyuman Maheshwari wants to start blogging, I offer to personally host him on one of the domains I own here in the US, so no one can touch that atleast.

I am appalled that a journalist is shutdown for speaking his mind - where is freedom of speech here?

Hi Shanti…completely agree with you on the TOI thing. Also, I want to volunteer for the next-next issue of Blog Mela. What do I have to do?

Shanti, if you are really serious about this, well bravo. You should go ahead and contact PM. I don’t know if he will still be liable if he writes something hosted on your domain. In any case I think that the man is scared at this point.

Shanti, you offering a domain for PM is nice. I wouldn’t take it if I were PM. Anyways, this incident really has enraged me. Drop by my blog to see a point I wanna make. If they can serve legal notices for defamation, I’ve got something to serve TOI with.

p.s : check the comments section on your previous post abt Terry Schiavo for my line of reasoning on “pulling the plug”

Jammy, the next date we have available is May 19th - would you want to do it then?

L and Sriram, I am serious in that I will give PM the space to blog. I understand that he might be shaken after all this and might not want to take up the offer, but if he wants to I will help him.

With you. Albeit, my skeptic alter ago hopes this isn’t a flash in the pan. :nice:

Take 2: With you. Albeit, my skeptic alter Ego hopes this isn’t a flash in the pan.

There’s always support from me for anything against the Times of India!

And knowing TOI, I’m sure they will continue providing plenty of cannon fodder!

Btw, here’s one of my recent posts of an example on how TOI resorts to cheap stunts.

Shanti, do you get the feeling that this thing is kind of dying out? Kribs had far more hits for that trisha episode.

But this concerns all of us, and i feel that actions are no where near satisfactory.

Start something on the lines of:

http://spindianexpress.blogspot.com

AA, sounds like a good idea. I am planning to get something like that going with a few other bloggers. Wanna join in?

this is not the first time that mediaah has gone off. the first was when Pradyumna could not find funding for the site.

As far as the legality is concerned, very difficult for anyone to order me or anyone else( a resident of India, and a citizen) to pull out a post or a set of posts on a site that is hosted in the US or the UK. And Mediaah was hosted on blogspot. Not a server that is hosted in India. Thre is nothing that the law can do to make me comply. If everyone in the media pulled off stuff, because of threat of legal action there will be no media left in India.

The ToI behaved like any conglomerate does. Tried to hush anyone who affects its business interests. And ulitmately that was what Mediaah was doing. There is one thing about exposing “issues” in the better interest of the public. The other is exposing “issues” that impact conducting of business.

Mediaah if it comes back in a new avtaar should be very clear on what it is. Is it a place where you post unsubstantiated gossip in the name of news or is it a comment on the media in India. The former is going to cause it problems. The latter is sorely needed.

At the risk of drawing ire, let me make one point.

PM is hardly a neutral source. He is the editor of a paper which is in direct competition with TOI. there is a clear-cut clash of interests.

It’s not exactly a case of the mainstream media crushing a lone blogger. It is more the case of one section of the MSM taking legal action against another which was using blogs to take potshots at it.

Harini, well said.

Dinakar, I was not aware of the other angle to this issue. Thanks for putting the point forward.

Dinakar,

No where on Mediaah or otherwsie does Pradyuman say his views are what his newspaper reflects. He might be the editor of the said newspaper, but Mediaah was run entirely on his own, without either influencing the newspaper, or getting influenced by that newspaper.